A bridge too far for the First World

ITALIAN police say that the bridge collapse in Genoa which cost 39 lives was caused by bad weather. If that’s so, we might as well give up building bridges.

Though it’s true that bridges can be affected by unusual weather phenomena like heavy floods, monsoons, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, they are supposed to withstand the usual bad weather like heavy rains and strong winds we often get around the world.

Now it appears that cutbacks in infrastructure spending and poor maintenance could have caused the bridge to collapse with such disastrous consequences.

Italians have been building roads and bridges from Roman times. Some of them are still used daily in Italy and elsewhere in Europe.

How then could a bridge which is just 50 years old come tumbling down in bad weather? Was it poor design and construction?

Italy is a First World country. But since 2004 some 12 bridges have collapsed around Italy.

While we concede that Italy is an earthquake-prone country, questions must be asked about Italian civil engineering.

Though we are a Third World country infested with crime and corruption we can be proud of our infrastructure. It is world class. Have you heard of a bridge collapsing in South Africa?